Pakistan Governor Buried; Some Praise His Killer

The funeral of Pakistani Gov. Salman Taseer, gunned down yesterday apparently because of his outspoken opposition to his country's anti-blasphemy laws, came off today without any of the violence by his opponents that had been feared.

Pakistan's DAWN reports that "thousands of Pakistanis braved high security to attend Taseer’s funeral [in Lahore], following the country’s most high-profile assassination in three years."

DAWN also writes that the guard who witnesses said shot the Punjab governor has been charged with the murder, and that "hundreds of Facebook users [have] welcomed the killing of liberal Pakistani politician Salman Taseer as a strike against reformers of the country’s tight blasphemy laws."

The Associated Press adds that "more than 500 Muslim scholars are praising the man suspected of killing a Pakistani governor because the politician opposed blasphemy laws that mandate death for those convicted of insulting Islam."